Canada remains a target for terror

[Sceptilief Profile]

Blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Blah!

Here's some manure from the Vancouver Sun for any Canadians stupid enough to... eat manure.

No strategy exists to prevent attack: study

By Andrew Mayeda, Postmedia News January 5, 2011 12:03 AM


Nearly a decade after the 9/11 attacks, Canada still hasn't developed a reliable strategy for protecting such critical energy infrastructure as refineries, power plants and offshore petroleum platforms, according to a new study commissioned by the Defence Department.

Inaction by the federal government has left key energy assets vulnerable to a range of threats, from terrorism and natural disasters to the emerging danger of a cyberattack, says the study quietly released last month but now reported for the first time by Postmedia News.

An attack that disrupts or damages energy infrastructure would not only have major social and economic impacts, but could stoke "cross-border tensions" with the United States, which looks to Canada as a dependable supplier within increasingly integrated North American energy markets.

"The protection and resilience of critical infrastructure have often been described as major priorities for the government, yet the reality appears rather different from the rhetoric," writes Angela Gendron, a senior fellow at the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa. Her study was commissioned by Defence R&D Canada, the research arm of the Department of National Defence.

Canada urgently needs to develop a national plan -- and ideally appoint a central body to enforce it -- to replace the patchwork of rules and safeguards now being implemented by provinces and private industry, Gendron warns.

One of the diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks contains a list compiled by the U.S. State Department of infrastructure around the world that Washington considers critical to American security, economic and public-health interests. Canadian sites include the Seven-Mile dam in B.C.'s Kootenay region, the James Bay hydroelectric power project in Quebec, AECL's medical isotope-producing nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ont., and the network of natural-gas pipelines operated by TransCanada Gas of Calgary.

However, Canada has yet to publicly identify the exact sites it considers critical to the nation's interests.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the federal government created the department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to oversee Canada's national-security efforts.

A Public Safety spokesman noted that the department released a national critical-infrastructure strategy in May that paves the way for the federal government and the provinces to develop and test plans for protecting key sectors. The department has made significant progress in implementing the strategy, such as through the publication of a "risk-management guide" for critical sectors, the spokesman said in an emailed statement.

But Gendron says the strategy is too "reactive" and relies too much on the voluntary participation of the private sector, which has been reluctant to share data with the government.

Energy assets in Canada tend to be concentrated in certain regions of the country and, increasingly, integrated with U.S. distribution networks. While that has worked to Canada's economic advantage, it has also made such assets "high-value" targets for an attack and heightened the potential impact of a natural disaster such as an earthquake.

The domino effect of a major network failure can be crippling, a reality that hit home in the summer of 2003, when problems at a power utility in Ohio left about 50 million people in Ontario and eight U.S. states in the dark. The blackout cost about $6 billion in economic losses.

Gendron notes that al-Qaida has called on its recruits to strike any petroleum interests that supply the U.S. as part of an "economic jihad" against the Americans.

"As both a target in its own right and as a means of striking at American oil dependency, which al-Qaida has identified as America's greatest strategic vulnerability, Canada is susceptible to a major attack," writes Gendron, who says such an attack should be considered a "low probability/ high impact" risk.

If terrorists strike, it might not be a direct "physical" attack.

"Much of Canada's critical energy infrastructure and processes are today managed remotely from central control rooms which use computers and communications networks to control the flow of energy supplies [gas, oil, electricity] through pipelines or grids," says Gendron.

"Sophisticated state-led cyber espionage or warfare is a serious issue but easier to deter when the adversary is a state with an easily identifiable government and location than when cyberattacks are carried out by surrogates, criminals, terrorists and hackers who cannot readily be traced."
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Canada ... z1A9geF4BO

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Perhaps, if a Country did not involve itself in a known Dirty War, it could continue to live by it's peaceful Credo of leaving other countries and cultures alone and not warrant a terrorist attack upon itself, and therefore continue to keep peace and freedom within it's own boundaries.

I dunno. Just an idea I've been tossing around.

[pandoras Profile]

lol!
Wadda bunch of tripe. All the sun rag's spew the same shit. (gee, wonder why...!)

Might as well named this topic
"CANADA REMAINS A TARGET FOR SNOW"

oh and fyi there are contingency plans in place for the energy infrastructure. However they are reactive rather then proactive. Theres just way to much/many terrain/installations to effectivly cover.

[Tlm884 Profile]

Honestly, why would Canada need such a plan? As far as I know we aren't really a target for any terrorist plots and it's not like our "army" is large enough to do anything. And I am sure if something did happen the US would be all up in that shit.

[Tlm884 Profile]

Honestly, why would Canada need such a plan? As far as I know we aren't really a target for any terrorist plots and it's not like our "army" is large enough to do anything. And I am sure if something did happen the US would be all up in that shit.

[dlslith Profile]

Why? Here's one example. Then of course there was the dude stopped at the BC borber around 911

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Video+seiz ... story.html